Thursday, 18 September 2014

New Era and Batrep 4k 40k!

New Era? 4k 40k? What? Well first of all, the newly renamed Gwent Reavers have had their first two gamign sessions at its new venue in Abertillery. We've seen the numbers stay steady, but with more time to play and do hobby things people sem a lot happier. Not having to rely on buses or lift has certainly lifted my spirits! We've had some interest from potential new members too, which is most excellent.

Secondly, Alun aka Elfboy is going back to university, so a big game of 40k was needed before he departs to sunny Lampeter. 4k? Well it was supposed to be, but someone made an army list on the day and went 500pts over. 'Have to cut things out mate'... No Alun, everything I have is here, I'll simply add 500 points!

I won't go into lists, but notable additions include...

For Alun:

5 Leman Russ

an HQ with far too much goodness, Stracken, Yarrick, Nork

3 Assassins, one each of Callidus, Vindicare and Eversor

Approx 70-80 Storm Troopers.

For myself:

Squat Cyber Slayer with honour guard (Squat is a captain with power axe, thats it!)

Stormwing detachment

2 Assassins, one Callidus and one Vindicare

4 Full Tactical Squads

Ten man Bike Squad with Khan in a White Scars detachment.

After a trip to the near neighbouring Wetherspoons where no beef burgers were available, we deployed our large armies and got to some dice rolling. With 5 assassins on the table, infiltrate was a tacticall important part which I won and got to deploy these first although Alun deployed first and would get first turn. Wityh 6 objectives, 2 in each deployment and 2 in the main field I'd need to be aggressive to get those cards from holding objectives. The first turn went well as I stole initiative and set about missions...

The first I had was three or more units in my deployment and no enemy... awesome for a first turn, except an enemy Callidus assassin was right in the corner sitting underneath a Thunderfire Cannon, Vindicare, and Master of the Forge. Sternguard duty changed from popping tanks to killing this 'orrid little lass! And they did it well. Poison ammo is amazing!

Aluns Vindicare was slapped with 4 krak missiles, one killing him outright killing Aluns second assassin. The Eversor was hidden by the landing pad, so my White Scars detachment aggressivelysurged forward and unleashed bolter fire at him. This did the job as out of the 8 saves Alun failed three. Good work lads! My own Callidus shredded some Storm Troopers making them fail their save with the lone survior running, but rallying next turn on a double one. Good start though, now to face the incoming barrage...

Which never really came.

Aluns battlecannons didn't roll a hit all game, despite firing three shots a turn. He cause some damage but nowhere near as much as I'd expected, the White Scars increased jink save doing wondrous things over the course of the game! Both having Callidus assassins meant reserves would be hard work to gain, as they grant a minus 3 to the opposing force, and we'd both taken one! Aluns Chimeras surged forward, doing minimal amounts of damage here and there but nothing too damaging. He did stop my two vindicators from firing which was a nuisance but they do absorb a lot of attention!

As the game progressed it was becoming noticeable that my luck was proving me well while Aluns had abandoned him. He did whittle down a lot of my forces but you know the opponent has had a bad game when a few of your squads remain untouched at the end of the game. The Legion of the Damned arrived on the landing pad, but their firepower wasn't needed. Leman Russes were destroyed in combat, either by a flanking Tactical Squad in a Rhino or by the bikers, who ran rampant throughout. My right flank was more messy, my flyers coming on and the Stormraven being crippled but not before dropping off its payload of Chapter Master and Termies who also blew up a Leman Russ and then fought with the uber command squad the Guard had brought.

In the end I'd grabbed a lot of objectives, getting cards that were either easy to grab or I'd already held certain objectives. Aluns luck had totally deserted him however and he struggled to get acheivable missiosn. I didn't complain though, its always nice to kick your mates ass!

So 16 points to 3 was pretty one sided, and another turn may have seen Alun wiped off the board... that'll teach him for going over the points limit!

We'll be looking to get some board games out and look for some X-wing battel reports too as my nephew and Bam look to try and kick my arse, which is easy to do to be fair. We may have a couple of other members who want to join in with X-wing too so some more players will spice things up. I also need to mention Dragondaze is happening on Saturday in Newport South Wales, which I'll be running a demo game of Gorkamorka at with Louis. I've kept it simple so we'll see how it goes, as setting up the business and moving the club has just taken all my time. Should be a good laugh and I've saved a few pennies to go down with so may ad something to my hobby collection. Thats all for now anyways, more soon!